Hi all,

First post on the forum, this appears to be the correct section.

Back story
I've recently decided to pick up the old mans air rifle again and start plinking in the garden.

To start with, the safety wouldn't set itself when cocked and the twang noise was horrific.

I went to my local shop in Brighton and enquired about getting it serviced, I had also read and watched a lot on tuning. The local shop put me onto Sandwell field sports, if i wanted something extra as in tuning.

I emailed SFS and ended up speaking to Tony on the phone. He said that due to the breech being scored by the barrel lock there's no point in spending any money on the rifle as it will be difficult to get it to seal correctly.

With this disappointing news I decided i had nothing to loose having a fiddle myself. I picked out the old original leather breech seal and replaced with a new one from the internet (£4). This made the pellets penetrate the 22mm ply target holder rather than bounce off.

Next up i decided to knock out the pins on the trigger and pull the spring/piston out. It was full of what looked like old axle grease, I broke out the citrus degreaser (used on MTB) and cleaned it all up. While it was all apart i bought 120 to 3000 Assorted Grit Sandpaper, 23 x 9 cm, 36-Sheet off amazon (£5.97) and polished the piston (leather seal got some connolly hide care cream), the ends of the slightly bent main spring and the bottom of the spring guide. The next morning I went to the local gun shop and bought some Moly Grease (£6.99) and painted it on and reassembled. The gun still twangs as the metal spring guide is loose in the spring, but the pellets are now in the ply to a point where you can't just brush them out.

So far I've spent under £20 and it's working well and the safety click on when cocked now.

Questions

Is it worth getting a guide kit to tune the gun a little more, or will it not really make any difference in the grand scheme of things.

I'd like to buy a new scope, but would like to retain the ability to use the iron sights which are true. Current 4x Kassnar original with rifle in 70's is bent we think, it shoots 10" high and i cant wind the adjustment down anymore.

Which scope would people recommend for £100-120. should i be looking at 32 or a 40? will a 40 be too big and obscure the iron sights? should i go 4x or 2-7x ?

Finally will the current scope mounts fit a modern scope or will i need to buy new mounts too?

Sorry for the long post